The Marauders Strike Back
by Sammy-Jo
Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione time-travel and meet the Marauders...only, now Voldemort of the present is there to meet them! The story goes back and forth between present and past times! LE/JP and HG/RL
1. Return of the Marauders

Harry travels back to the Marauders' time…it's my attempt to bring Sirius back to life after his tragic death.

*Sammy-Jo*

Harry stared at Professor Dumbledore, unable to comprehend what he had just heard. "Wha--?" He could not possibly have just heard what he thought he had.

Dumbledore smiled and looked over the top of his half moon glasses, blue eyes sparkling. "You can go and meet your parents, Harry. As you know from your--adventure with Hermione, involving the rescuing of a hippogriff, time turners can send you into the past."

"But--" a sudden thought occurred to Harry. "The time turner only turned back an hour at a time. To visit my parents…I'd have to turn it _thousands_ of times and--"

"Not with this new invention from the Department of Mysteries. They have given it to me for my use as a kind of--apology--" Dumbledore winked at that, "for calling me a mad old bat."

Harry's heart leapt. He could see his parents, and Sirius again. But he could not think about Sirius now. Harry blinked back hot tears, surprised to find them there. Dumbledore was staring at his fingertips, which he had pushed together like a steeple, apparently not noticing Harry's anguish. Harry looked up akwardly.

"So I'll just--erm--go?"

"Don't you want to bring along any of your friends, Harry?"  


"I can??? How many can I take? When can we go? How--"

Dumbledore laughed softly. "I daresay you can't bring the whole of Gryffindor House with you, but perhaps Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would like to accompany you."

Harry could hardly believe it. He was going to meet his parents!

********************************************************

Harry, Hermione and Ron stood, squeezed together under the necklace of the time turner. This was made even more so by the fact that they had all their heavy trunks with them. As long as they were holding them, the trunks would come with them, but it made for very awkward positions.

"Now," it was strange to see Dumbledore dressed in Muggle clothes, but there he was, right in front of platform nine and three-quarters. The trio would be using the time turner there, but as the Muggles hardly noticed anything, they were not likely to pay any attention to the young wizards. "Now, you will be arriving when your parents are in their fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry. I forbid you to give them any information about future events."

Harry's grin faded slightly. He _had_ intended to inform his parents of this, if not directly, then to at least hint at it. Dumbledore gave him a knowing look, but he was not smiling.

"If you give away information, you may cease to exist, Harry. You could change the entire course of events for the future. And no, you may not offer even a small innuendo. I know you will not disappoint me." With that, he Disapparated. The Muggles, of course, did not notice any of this. Harry waited for Hermione to work the time turner then glared at her as she was looking at him strangely. 

"What is it now, Hermione?"

"Promise me you won't do anything, well…stupid, Harry."

"Stupid?" Ron interjected. "Now, why would Harry do anything stupid?"

Ron grunted as Harry elbowed him and dropped his trunk, causing Pigwidgeon to start shrieking.

"Nice one, Ron. Let's see if the Muggles don't notice us _now_."

Ron grinned sheepishly, but as he picked up his luggage, Hermione hurriedly turned the time turner over three times.

******************************************

James Potter scanned the crowd for his best friend, Sirius Black. He had not seen his comrade all summer, and had only written to him twice. Spotting him in the swarming crowd of Muggles at King's Cross Station, James waved and walked over to see Sirius with his other two friends, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin.

"Hey, Padfoot! Moony. Wormtail."

"You sound a whole lot more excited to see Sirius than us, Prongs," Remus replied slyly. He stood up straight so that James could not miss the gleaming badge on his chest.

"Oh no! They've made you a prefect! How can you stand the shame? The horror! The--"

Sirius burst out laughing as Remus glared at James. "I suppose Dumbledore would like me to keep you two out of trouble, and-"

"Oh, come on Moony. You get your share of the trouble too, you know."

"Ummm…guys? We're going to miss the Train, it's nearly 11." Peter interrupted, his beady eyes worried yet still a smiled played across his pointed face.

"Right you are, Wormtail. Wouldn't want to be late, now would we? As I always say--"

"Shut up and walk through the barrier, Padfoot," James's hazel eyes sparkled with mirth. "Nobody cares what you always say."

The boys hurried through the barrier and discovered that in fact, they were late. Remus went off to join the prefects, to snickers from the other three, and the Marauders looked for an empty compartment. James stopped at one with four girls in it to pop his head in.

"Hello Lily! How are you on this fine, nice day here?"

The three other girls giggled, but Lily turned red to match her hair and her green eyes had a dangerous light in them.

"GET OUT OF HERE, POTTER! IF I CATCH YOU ANYWHERE NEAR ME EVER AGAIN I'LL--"

"Ok, leaving now." Sirius pulled on James's robes. James scowled, but followed suit. The train started to move and the three Marauders were thrown into another compartment, and the door snapped open. James looked up and saw three kids, two boys and a girl, who looked about to be his age that he had never seen before. This surprised him, for he was very popular, and tried to get to know everyone's name--even the Slytherins.

"Is this car full, or can we join--" James gasped from his position on the floor. One of the boys looked exactly like him. He had the same untidy raven hair and was about the same height though perhaps a bit shorter. In fact, the only major difference James could see was that the boy had bright emerald eyes. Looking at Peter and Sirius, he saw that they were gaping too. Peering back into the car while still on the floor, James realized that the three in the compartment were gaping at them. James started cracking up at the ludicrous of the gaping-fest. After a while, the others started laughing, too. In a few minutes' time, all six were laughing so hysterically that the three in the train compartment had fallen to the ground and the three Marauders couldn't stand. What made the situation even more hilarious was the fact that Remus was apparently done with his prefect's meeting and was standing over the group, apparently deciding whether to tell them off or not. Then he saw the boy identical to James and it was his turn to gape. Needless to say, it took quite a while for all of them to settle down.

The four Marauders sat across from the three kids and stared at each other until James introduced himself.

"My name is James Potter. This," he pointed to his friend, "is Sirius Black. And here are Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, the perfect prefect."

Ignoring James's last comment, Remus spoke. "There you go again, announcing Peter and I only after you introduce Sirius."

James ignored this and turned to the trio across from him. "We call ourselves the Marauders and also go by the names of Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail and Moony." James decided not to explain the meaning behind the nicknames until he knew more about the three. "We're fifth years, but I've never seen any of you before. By the way," he added in a kind of sarcastic confiding voice, "I'm the one who's good at Quidditch, gets all the girls and the brains behind all our pranks." At the cries of outrage from his other friends, he smirked. "And what are your names?" He asked before any of the Marauders could reply.

The boy that looked like him spoke first. "We're fifth years too but we--erm--transferred from another school. My name is Harry Po--" James looked in surprise as the girl elbowed him hard. "Porter." James had the idea that that was not what Harry was about to say, but brushed it aside.

"I'm Ron Weasel," the tall red headed boy spoke, "And this," he indicated the girl with bushy brown hair, "is Hermione Gropet." For some reason, the girl scowled at this, but hid it quickly. James exchanged quizzical looks with his friends, but they just shrugged.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and the Marauders all pulled into a carriage pulled by what appeared to James to be invisible horses, and the newly met trio climbed into the one behind them.

"That Harry Porter boy sure looks a lot like you, Prongs," Peter whispered, as if Harry, Hermione and Ron could hear them while in a separate carriage.

"I noticed." James said shortly.

"All three of them seem suspicious to me," Sirius spoke in an uncharacteristically grave voice. His voice was hushed, too. What had gotten into those two?

"Serious, Sirius?" James cracked an old joke, but the other three gave forced laughs. Odd.

"Well," Remus spoke slowly, "they appeared undaunted by the fact that we're being pulled by horseless carriages to a school they've supposedly never been to before. Why, they didn't even look twice at Hogwarts."

"Maybe they come from some rich school, Moony. Don't worry about it." Only now James wondered why he hadn't noticed that before.

"Hogwarts isn't exactly poor you know. I'll bet that--" But Peter had to cut off as they arrived and the three friends ran to meet up with the Marauders.

"I suppose we'll have to be Sorted with the first years?" Ron grumbled. Harry and Hermione glared at him fiercely, and his ears turned red.

"How do you know about the Sorting?" James asked slyly.

"Oh, I…read up on Hogwarts." Ron finished lamely. James hoped he wasn't a bookie.

"I see. Well, I guess we'll just have to find out."

The group entered the building to be greeted by Professor Dumbledore himself. "Ah yes. You must be our new students. Please follow me, and the Sorting Hat will Sort you into appropriate Houses."

"Cross your fingers and hope to be sorted into Gryffindor." Sirius winked at the threesome. "And if you're Sorted into Slytherin, we will be forced to hold a grudge against you." He could say nothing further, as they had entered the Great Hall. The Sorting Hat had apparently finished its song, and the first years were all lining up. Professor McGonagall opened her mouth to announce the first name, but paused as the Headmaster moved to the front to speak. All around, students stopped talking, intent as to why there was an interruption.

"If you will please welcome three new students to our school. They have transferred and are entering as fifth years. Harry Porter, you're first."

Harry put on the Sorting Hat. "Yes, you have the makings of power all in your head here. Yes, I can see your determination. Well then, better be--"

"No!"

"Excuse me?"

Harry had just realized that the Hat would be Sorting him into Slytherin and that just would not do.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin."

"Well…alright then, if you're sure…GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table burst out cheering, the Marauders the loudest of all. Harry slipped into a seat next to his father--no--_James_, and waited for his friends to be Sorted.

"Ron Weasel!"

Ron stepped forward and put the Sorting Hat on his head.

"Hmm…yes, I see it now. You are very sly and cunning, Weasel. Well then, better be SLY!--"

"No!"

"Oh, what is it now, with you newcomers? What do you want from me, Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

The Hat sighed. "All right then, GRYFFINDOR!"

Again the Gryffindors applauded loudly, and Ron sat next to Sirius.

"Hermione Gropet!"

"Ah--you are one for the books, dear. Yes, the knowledge is all here. You will do well in RAV--"

"Please, no!"

"What is it with you kids?!? What do you need a damn Hat for if you all just want Gryffindor. And don't even bother feigning surprise. Fine, fine. GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat broke off in a series of expletives that Hermione cut off by leaving and sitting next to Harry.

"I knew you had it in you!"

All the Gryffindors were patting Harry and his friends on the back and shaking hands with them.

"Now, we can plot the best way to start the new school year," smiled James.

"Let's hex Snivellus again!" Peter cried.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Have you all forgotten who I am?" He pointed significantly to his prefect's badge.

"You don't want to get mixed up with _him_." A female voice spoke in a disgusted voice behind Harry. He turned around to see a pretty girl with red hair and bright green eyes. Eyes the same exact shape as Harry's. Harry knew he was looking at his mother as a teenager. He noticed she too had a prefect's badge.

"And _you_!" she looked at Remus.

"What about me?" Remus asked innocently.

"_You're_ supposed to be a prefect, and you're just sitting here, letting them plot childish pranks. I have half a mind to give you three detention, you know."

"Get out of our faces, Evans." James spoke coolly.

"If you don't leave, we'll have to hex you, Mudblood." Everyone looked to Peter in shock, and he flushed.

"That's it. Enough of you all." Harry saw Lily glancing towards the teachers' table, but they all appeared to be in deep conversation.

They all flinched as Lily raised her wand. Peter muttered something about how he was only joking, but Lily wasn't listening.

"_Beaucochon!_" Everyone looked at James, who she had aimed the spell at. Nothing appeared to be happening, but then he opened his mouth to speak. All that came out was an oink. The table started cracking up. James launched into a tirade of indignant 'oink's. Sirius was on the floor laughing when Lily pointed her wand at him. He swallowed hard, but knew that he couldn't pull out his wand, as he and his friends risked expulsion already. Therefore, the Marauders were helpless to defend themselves if a teacher happened to spot them.

"_Chanteuse!_" It was Sirius's turn to open his mouth as he began to belt out "Deck the Halls" at the top of his lungs--in a soprano voice. He went through a number of Christmas carols before Lily put her wand away and stalked off, James still oinking and Sirius still singing, though his voice appeared to be getting even higher and shriller. Hermione pulled out her wand, presumably to undo the hexes when they found the reason for Lily's abrupt departure.

"Miss Gropet!" A voice snapped behind her. She turned around and was horrified to see a younger, but no less stricter looking Professor McGonagall.

Hmmm…that wasn't so good, but it was fun to write anyways ;)…I will be continuing…

R/R and flame all you want…go on, you know you want to ;)

*Sammy-Jo*


	2. Broken Hopes and Shattered Dreams

Yippee! More of my crazy writing!

*Sammy-Jo*

********************************************************

"Professor, I can explain! I was just trying to--" Hermione spluttered.

"You have your wand out and Potter and Black are both hexed. Now what more is there to explain? I must say, Miss Gropet, I am very disappointed in you. I thought I would be proud to have you in Gryffindor House, but already you cause trouble. Twenty points from Gryffindor."

"WHAT?" Harry burst out.

"I do not wish to take any more points from my own House, Mr. Porter, but anymore outbursts like that and I will be forced to follow suit."

Professor McGonagall took out her wand and performed the counterjinxes. After one more 'oink' and a particularly loud squeak from Sirius, she turned on her heel and left.

Harry looked over at his mother--_No! She is _Lily! Harry thought sternly to himself--expecting her to apologize. He was therefore stunned to see her and three friends of hers he did not recognize sniggering at Hermione.

"Well, it's your own fault for involving yourself with Potter. It was, after all, bloody brilliant of me, was it not?" Lily smirked and walked off, presumably up to the Gryffindor common room.

Harry was shocked. He had never expected his mother to act like this. She was a teenager, yes, but somehow he had always pictured her as kind, fair, loving and gentle. He was very unpleasantly surprised to deduce that this was not in her demeanor at all.

Still frowning after Lily, he didn't notice the Marauders stand up until Peter pulled on his sleeve. Harry was reminded of the last time Peter's hand was on his arm, in the distant future and involving a knife and bloodshed, and barely stopped himself from flinching. No matter who Peter would become, Harry had to learn to accept who he was now. At least he was not with Voldemort.

"That's how she always behaves, Harry. Don't take it personally. James does have a huge crush on her, though." Peter sighed. "Of all the girls he could have picked. Nearly every girl in the school--besides the ones in Slytherin, that is--has a crush on him, and he has to choose the one he can't have." Peter shook his head at the irony of it all and started to lead Harry and his friends up to the common room.

James had fallen behind, but as Harry made to go back, Peter shook his head. Harry saw James crestfallen and wished he could do something, but knew he could not interfere with the past by telling him that Lily really would like him one day. Love him, in fact.

Peter, Harry, Hermione and Ron hurried to catch up with Sirius and Remus. Luckily, Remus was a prefect, as all the other Gryffindors were already in the common room and Lily wasn't likely to give them the password. As they scrambled through the portrait hole, James caught up with them and climbed through after them, then started to head straight for the boys' dormitory when Lily screamed. Harry noticed she had a rather fiery temper, to say the least.

"POTTER! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH FRANK'S BOXERS?!"

James looked up but did not say anything.

"WELL?"

"It wasn't me, Evans." James had to be in a really bad mood to call her 'Evans'.

Lily looked as if she didn't believe him, then her eyes stopped on Sirius, who was laughing uncontrollably. 

"BLACK! I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU DETENTION FOR THIS, NOW GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"Better run, Padfoot," Remus whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Sirius, who was now looking horrified. Lily looked as if she were about to strangle him.

Poor Frank stood in the corner as his boxers had developed little hands that kept pulling down his pants no matter how many times he pushed them up, and were singing "It's a Small World" over and over, more rapidly and louder as it went along. All the Gryffindors were laughing hysterically until Lily pulled out her wand and performed the counter curse. Then Sirius made a run for it. Surprisingly, Lily just nodded to herself and walked up to her own common room.

Harry had been too surprised at his future parents' behavior before he realized Ron was on the ground laughing and Hermione was looking as if she wanted to join in too. Sirius's head poked out at the top of the stairs.

"Is she quite done yet?" With a mischievous grin, he slid down the banister and gave a mock bow to much applauding from all the Gryffindors. 

Harry walked slowly up to the boys' dormitories. Hermione, noticing this, pulled Ron off the floor and motioned to Harry.

"Harry, this is wonderful!" Ron grinned broadly. "Just bloody wonderful!"

"Oh, but that Lily Evans," Hermione fumed. "I will get back at her one of these days. She's so mean I can't stand her--OW!" She stopped as Ron elbowed her in the ribs and realized what she had just said.

"Oh, Harry, I didn't mean it, it's just, well--Take into account her behavior, Harry. She's not your mum right now, I'm sure she--" Hermione cut off as the Marauders nearly knocked down the door. James appeared to have gotten his good humor back.

"Good one, Padfoot, old pal!"

"Nice, you managed to get Evans mad!"

"Wish I had thought of it!"

"Well, I _am_ the brains behind everything, of course," Sirius bragged, to his friends' rolling eyes.

Harry didn't say anything and pretended to go to sleep.

*********************************************

Lily shut the door behind her and leaned against it, face flushing.

"What was that all about Lily?" her friend Emberlynn Lirampla asked. "I know you don't like James, but aren't you being a bit harsh?" Emberlynn raised an eyebrow.

Lily fought down the blood rising to her face. The truth of it was, she had always hated James. Hated him for his stupid arrogance, always jinxing people just for the fun of it, always torturing poor first years. James just liked to pick on everyone, he and his little gang. There was one new thing now. James had started to…appeal…to Lily. She didn't _fancy_ him, heavens no, but…Well, his jokes _were_ funny, and… She cut off as she realized now that all her friends were staring at her.

"No, Lynn, I am _not_ being harsh. Given the privilege of being a prefect," her friends rolled their eyes at this, but Lily ignored them, "and seeing as Remus has done nothing to stop them, it is my duty to--"

"Oh shut up, Lils!" Lily's best friend Ayanna Wintorko, a pretty black girl, laughed. Lily had not yet told her best friend that she had a crush on James, but Ayanna suspected. "I've seen you laugh at his pranks before."

Lily looked at the remaining girl, Rosa Rendante, who looked at her apologetically, shrugging.

"Not this year, Anna." Lily flopped down on her bed.

"Well, he is hot, you know," Emberlynn smiled so the dimple in her cheek showed, blue eyes sparkling.

"WHAT?" Lily sat up, glaring at Lynn.

"Oh, I could spend hours gazing into his deep hazel eyes, wrapped in his muscular arms, ki--"

"EMBERLYNN!" 

"Uh, oh. She's mad now, Lynn," Ayanna laughed out loud at the furious look on her friend's face. "Better run!"

The girls proceeded to chase each other around the room, Rosa still buried in her book, until they were too tired to move, and collapsed on their beds, panting.

Lily lay awake for some time, staring at her bed hangings. The truth of it was, what Lynn had said really hit home. But no. She could _not_ allow herself to think that way. Turning over, Lily finally succumbed to the pull of a dreamless sleep.

**************************************************

Years later, Dumbledore started to put an Unbreakable Charm on the remaining time turner, as it would be useless if it should break, when Professor McGonagall ran into the room, her usually neat hair all in a disarray, panting.

"My dear Professor, what is it?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Albus," McGonagall rasped for breath, "Albus, V-V-Voldemort got a hold of the time turner that they kept for records at the Ministry. He knows about Harry, and is headed to the past. I'm not sure what he plans to do, but if he harms Lily or James--"

"We must put this under guard," Dumbledore pointed to the time turner and McGonagall looked at him as if he had sprouted three heads.

"_Under guard_, Albus? Shouldn't we go help the boy?"

"Harry very much wants to see his parents, Minerva, and I doubt that Tom will try to harm either one of them. Tom does not know what will happen to him, because he does not know the remainder of the prophecy. I know for a fact that he fears the unknown. Harry will remain there until we get him." Dumbledore spoke very firmly, and it was clear that the subject matter was closed.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Neville Longbottom walked in, accidentally slamming the door against the desk. The same desk that the time turner was on.

"NO!" shouted McGonagall.

As if in slow motion, though in reality it was merely seconds, the time mechanism was on the floor, shattered, its grains of sand spilled everywhere. For a moment, the three just stared at the broken glass. For the first time, Professor Dumbledore appeared frightened.

"We must find some way to warn him, Minerva. He will be in grave danger if we cannot bring him back."

Hmmm…so…flame flame flame!

Yay!

Au revoir!

*Sammy-Jo*


	3. Werewolves and Mudbloods

After Ron had chased her out of the boys' dormitories, Hermione had gone down to the common room and stayed there, pretending to read a book, until finally the last students dragged their feet and climbed the stairs to their respective dormitories. Hermione tiptoed up the steps to the fifth years' chambers and slowly opened the door. Lily and her friends were all asleep, or at least appeared to be, much to Hermione's relief. As far as first impressions went, Hermione did not like Lily or her friends at all, but made a mental note not to mention it. After all, she supposed that after the girl grew up, she would become at least a bit more understanding. Everyone had always spoken highly of Harry's parents, and despite what Harry claimed to have seen in the Pensieve, James could not be all that bad. And although she had not been as close to Sirius as Harry had, it was still good to have at least a semblance of him back. Smiling to herself, she drifted into a deep sleep.

Hermione woke abruptly to moans and the shifting of bedsprings. She herself sat up and saw the other four girls all looking at her, their eyes still groggy with sleep.

"Erm…hello. I--I don't believe we've met." Hermione swallowed, glancing at Lily. "Formally, that is."

To Hermione's great relief, Lily smiled. "Yes, I'm really sorry for yesterday, Hermione. I do tend to lose my temper when Potter is involved. You have no idea what he's like. Oh. This is," she pointed to a girl with frizzy black hair and blue eyes, "Emberlynn Lirampla. Also, Ayanna Wintorko, and Rosa Rendante." Rosa had been absent-mindedly gazing into space, her chocolate brown eyes glazed over, and snapped back to attention at the sound of her name, glasses nearly falling off. She smiled weakly and waved at Hermione before appearing to go off in her own reverie.

The girls walked down to breakfast together, and entered the Great Hall. Hermione took her place next to Harry, who looked to be in deep conversation with Ron. Remus looked up and greeted her, to whom Hermione responded with a smile, but he appeared to be the only one of the Marauders who had noticed her arrival. Hermione felt quite left out, as she was most certain the foursome were plotting something, and the four girls next to her were deep in conversation and appeared to have forgotten about her. She occupied herself by spearing some sausages with her fork and chewed them thoughtfully, not even looking up when the owls delivering students' mail came in. She, of course, would have no letters in this day and time. She looked up as someone tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a course schedule. Scanning the list quickly, she saw that she would be having Transfiguration first, then double Potions with the Slytherins. Later, they would have Charms and Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Hermione wasn't too worried about the schoolwork, however, as she had gotten 'O's on all of her O.W.L.s, and redoing fifth year could not be hard at all.

Upon entering the Transfiguration classroom, she sat down next to Ron and Harry, who only now proceeded to notice her.

"Hello, Hermione." Harry said in a suspiciously innocent voice. "Didn't see you at breakfast this morning. Were you busy upstairs reading all our books for this year? Or had you forgotten that we've already taken--"

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed. "Do you want someone to hear us? And for your information, I was sitting right next to you, thanks for noticing."

Harry and Ron gave her reproachful glances before turning their attention on Professor McGonagall, who had just entered the room. Hermione tried to tell herself that it wasn't their fault and that she should not be taking her bad mood out on them, but for the first time, she wondered why she had agreed to come in the first place. If everyone was going to ignore her, she would rather have spent her summer with her parents, who were now on vacation in Sweden. Harry had every reason to be here, getting away from his aunt and uncle, on top of that seeing his parents, but--no, she had agreed to come, and this was interesting. Interesting enough, anyways.

"Today, class, we will be vanishing snails," McGonagall began. Hermione gaped. Did the woman even change her lesson plans throughout the years? She recalled the same lesson on her first day back in Hogwarts in her own fifth year. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly snapped her mouth shut, then glanced sideways and saw that Ron and Harry were following suit.

McGonagall showed the class the Vanishing Spell, and set them to practice. Hermione got it on first try, which was not unusual even had she not known the spell beforehand, earning ten points for Gryffindor. Harry and Ron, however, got it on their first try, and Hermione glared at them, but they didn't notice. If they got every spell correct on first try, all three of them, it would draw suspicion to them like nails to a giant magnet. Luckily, she remembered what good students James, Sirius, Remus and Lily were, and they more or less got it in the first few tries, and the trio's accomplishments were forgotten.

On their way to Potions, to Hermione's disgust, the Gryffindors ran into the Slytherins. Namely, Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Snape was greasy haired and disgusting as ever, and Malfoy had a smug aura that his son must have gotten from him.

"Well, well, well." Sirius mused in a sardonic voice, "If it isn't Snivellus Snape. How perfectly _charming_ to see you. I see you haven't discovered shampoo yet. Tsk, tsk. What a shame, it really is a lovely invention. Oh, and don't even get me started on soap."

As the Gryffindors sniggered and the Slytherins glared, Snape started to pull out his wand, then stopped as the door to the dungeons opened and the Potions professor stepped out, beckoning the class in. Hermione had expected a creepy old man, but to her surprise, he was quite normal looking for the head of Slytherin House. Professor Hopnill, Hermione recalled his name from her course schedule, had black hair and nearly black eyes. Aside from the eyes and the slight scowl he wore on his face, he really did not look like such a bad guy. Hermione quickly followed the class in, and as there was seating for only two to a table, she found herself sitting next to the last person on earth she'd have wanted to be near. Lucius Malfoy.

"Gropet, is it?" He raised an eyebrow at Hermione, but didn't wait for a response. "I do hope you're pureblood. I wouldn't want to risk be tainted by a filthy Mudblood. Well?"

"Umm." Hermione didn't respond.

"You _are_, aren't you?" Malfoy raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Hopnill inquired.

"I happen to be sitting next to a Mudblood, Professor," Malfoy continued, ignoring the hisses of outrage from the Gryffindors, "and I would ask to be moved, please, lest my robes become soiled." At this point, Ron stood up, but Hermione quickly motioned him down. He sat down, reluctantly. Hermione couldn't believe that Malfoy would say this to a teacher. Surely, he could at least have points taken off for that.

"Dear me," Hopnill said, to Hermione's horror, in a falsely sweet voice, "I had no idea that my dungeons were plagued by a Mudblood. Miss Gropet, I'm afraid you'll have to use the floor at the back of the room. I wouldn't want you poisoning the other students with your filthy hands. Go on, now. And to all of you," he turned back to the Gryffindors. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for not informing me of this, and ten more to you, Mr. Weasel, for rising from your seat without permission. Now, it's time to make a Polyjuice Potion." Apparently he did not realize that Lily was Muggle-born as well, but Hermione decided not to inform him of this. After all, Lily _had_ apologized, and she did not think she could put anyone other than Malfoy, or perhaps Snape, under this treatment. Not to mention she would have to explain exactly _how_ she knew that Lily was not a pureblood.

Needless to say, Hermione's opinion changed from her first impression. Professor Hopnill had been most displeased when her own Polyjuice Potion turned out perfectly, and only scowled and told her to scrub the cauldron extra hard. Fuming on the way out of class, she ignored the Gryffindors' offers of sympathy and stormed up to the library. She would show Hopnill. She would write a perfect essay on the uses of Truth Potions, which they would be making next.

Reaching over for the book she needed, she gave a small gasp, quickly suppressed as her hand ran into something hard. Looking up, she saw it was Remus's arm. Blushing, she glanced upward at him.

"I'm sorry, Hermione." Remus said, a sparkle of mirth in his blue eyes. "It appears we're the only ones who have decided to actually study."

__

He should not be allowed to smile like that, Hermione thought to herself as she practically melted, only realizing how handsome Remus was now. _I wonder if being a werewolf makes him stronger when he's in human form?_ She mused giddily, then realized what she was doing and snapped back to attention.

"That's how it always is with Ron and Harry," she smiled ruefully and grabbed the book, walking over to the nearest table. Remus followed her, and sat down next to her. "I'm usually the one that ends up studying, and when they write their essays, I end up correcting the whole thing for them anyways." She did _not_ just even have the most remote thought that Remus was good-looking.

Remus laughed. "Yes, that's how it is with me as well. You don't mind sharing, do you?" he pointed to the book. "It's the only copy this library has that's not already checked out."

"Of course not."

Hermione pulled out parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink and watched Remus do the same. Their hands touched as they both went to open the book at the same time, and Hermione blushed, then fiercely fought it down. She withdrew her hand as if she had been burned, but Remus appeared not to notice and opened the book to the appropriate page. Hermione tried to concentrate on her essay, but she was too busy mentally berating herself for the way she was behaving around Remus. He, on the other hand, appeared to be having no trouble at all, and was scribbling away with the usual vigor that Hermione had. Hermione hurriedly scrawled out a paragraph she knew she'd have to redo if she wanted to impress Professor Hopnill, then stood up suddenly, nearly knocking over the chair behind her. Remus looked up suddenly, startled.

"What is it?" he asked thickly, for he had been very absorbed in his work.

"Umm…I need to go talk to Ron and Harry. If you want to finish your essay--" she gestured toward the book, motioning that he could keep on, but he closed it and stood up.

"That's ok, we can work on it together later. And then remind the others that they too have to pass to graduate," he said with a wink.

Hermione grinned weakly and followed Remus to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Nicholas Flamel." The portrait swung open and Hermione smiled as she remembered how much that name had meant in her first year at Hogwarts. They climbed through the hole in the wall and entered to an empty common room. Hermione had never felt more awkward. If she turned around, that'd look like she didn't want to be alone with Remus, but if she kept on walking, she wouldn't know what to say. Hermione settled for walking slowly over to the couch in front of the fireplace, letting a stray strand of hair fall into her eyes so she could look over at Remus. To her horror, he sat down next to her and looked at her expectantly. Hermione blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"So. You like to read too?" _No! I'm such an idiot, what kind of a question is that? Of course he likes to read! Did he not just say so himself?_

To her great relief, Remus did not give the semblance of having noticed her discomfort and replied, "Yes. In fact, I believe I must be the only one who has read _Hogwarts, A History_."

"I've read that too!" Hermione blurted out. "Honestly, if more people would read that, maybe they'd actually understand that you _can't_ Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds!" She then felt crimson rise yet again as she though of how stupid a statement that was.

Remus burst out laughing. "That's what I tell everyone! No one ever believes me, either."

The two went on for some time, until Hermione felt as if she had known Remus all her life. She had also not realized how close they had gotten during their discussion until she saw that if she moved an inch further, she would be sitting in his lap. At that second, the room seemed to explode as all the male fifth year Gryffindors walked in, laughing hysterically. They stopped dead on seeing Hermione and Remus, and this time even Remus blushed.

"Hermione! Remus!" Harry shouted in disbelief, "You've missed Charms and Herbology! I wondered where you two were, never did I imagine I'd find you like this!" He then smirked and gave Ron a knowing glance, which infuriated Hermione. She forgot all about missing the classes, and stood and started yelling at them.

"This is not what you think it is! Remus and I were just--!"

"Didn't know you had it in you, Moony old boy!"

"Score, Remus!"

"Nice job, I must say!"

"Hermione and I were just discussing our Truth Potion essays and lost track of time," Hermione marveled at how calmly Remus spoke as he gestured towards the book and the quills.

"Didn't get very far, did you now?" Ron spoke smugly, though the sneers on the other boys' faces faded slightly.

"Unlike you, Ron, Hermione and I would like to pass our O.W.L.s with more than an 'A', and felt the need to discuss the paper more in depth than scribbling down a few notes."

This time, all the boys' grins faded completely. Harry and Ron knew Hermione all too well to know that this could be true, and apparently James, Sirius and Peter knew the same of Remus. Remus just grinned and turned to Hermione.

"Perhaps we should head down to the Great Hall, My Lady?" He gave a mock bow, blue eyes twinkling. Hermione laughed along with the others, perhaps a bit forcefully, but no one noticed as they all headed down to the feast.

****************************************************

That night, Hermione lay awake in bed, staring into space, thinking about Remus. She couldn't get the picture of him out of his mind, his blue eyes like deep pools of water, his shaggy brown hair that she could just run her hands through, his muscular arms, sensual lips,--but no, she shouldn't be thinking that way. He had been, after all, her Professor. Perhaps in the distant future, but nonetheless, she could still not get the picture of the fully grown up Remus out of her mind.

Knowing she had to get some sleep if she was ever going to make up what she missed in her classes, Hermione turned over and jerked roughly into a sleep filled with dreams of Remus.

***************************************************

Remus sat up suddenly in sweat-soaked sheets, stiff as a board. He had just had a dream that he was with Hermione. They were out for a moonlit stroll, walking barefoot through the grass. He tickled her and she had fallen over laughing. Right before she hit the ground, he scooped her up in his arms and leaned in to kiss her, when suddenly he looked up at the moon that the clouds had been obscuring so that it had only shone through in beams. It was the full moon. He watched Hermione's face grow terrified as he dropped her, his body becoming rigid, and he started to transform. She tried to run away, but it was too late. As a werewolf, he attacked her and just as his jaws had clenched around her arm, he woke up. Breathing heavily, he reminded himself that it had only been a dream, in reality Madame Pomfrey would already have taken him through the passageway into the Shrieking Shack if there was to be a full moon. Nonetheless, the dream had been so…vivid.

Knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep, he stood up and began to pace his room. He could not be thinking about Hermione like that, because he knew she wasn't interested in him. He had seen her blush every time there was even the slightest insinuation that they should hook up, and if she had any real intentions, she most certainly would not have turned red at every mention of it. He hoped he had not been too obvious about his feelings for her, because she would likely be horrified at the very thought. Remus loved making her laugh, though. They were so much alike in their relationships with their friends that it was almost comical. Every time he saw her chestnut brown eyes light up in delight, he knew he wanted nothing other than to be with her. Only he could not have her. He sighed, because every time he saw her, he'd want to touch her, to kiss her, to--but it would do no good thinking about it, and he'd be much better off forgetting about the whole situation.

Remus decided to head down to the empty common room and softly opened the door, which slightly creaked. He winced, but all his friends were breathing the even breaths of those in deep sleep. He stepped as lightly as he could down the stairs and went to sit in an armchair next to the fireplace, which had long since died out. Taking out his wand, he relit the fire, and turned to watch the dancing flames--only to see them waltz across the startled face of Hermione.

************************************************

Yay!

Let it flame, let it flame, let it flame!

I wonder why I haven't gotten any flames so far…*ponders this*…

Hmmm well I'm really cold, so I could use a nice fire :)………

Nonetheless, I still hope you enjoyed it….

Do I use …'s too much? ……….

*Sammy-Jo*


	4. Professor Kettleburn's Class

"Remus?" Hermione whispered, and Remus's heart nearly stopped.

"Hermione! What are you doing down here?" 

"I--"

"Couldn't sleep?" Remus and Hermione said at the same time.

Hermione laughed softly and nodded. The two started at each other, and then Remus walked over to the couch and motioned for Hermione to take a seat, too. The two sat in what should have been an awkward quiet, but was more of a companionable silence. Remus yawned and decided he might as well get back upstairs when Hermione laid her head on his chest and he looked down and realized she had fallen asleep. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair, when suddenly he stopped. He should not be doing this. It really was nothing, yes, but if she didn't like him in the way that he liked her, then this was just wrong. 

__

She liked you enough to fall asleep in your arms, one part of him thought almost smugly. _Then again, she likely didn't know she'd fall asleep at all, _the more logical side of him deduced. With that, he stood up and gently laid her head on a scarlet and gold fringed pillow and wrapped a blanket over her, then walked softly to his own common room. Needless to say, Remus did not get very much sleep that night.

**************************************************

Hermione woke up suddenly to beams of sunshine hitting her eyelids. She sat up with a jerk, and with horror realized she was lying on the couch in the common room. Luckily, no one was down there or they would wonder what she was doing there instead of in her own dormitory. Apparently, it was still early in the morning. Then she remembered the events of last night. She had been having nightmares, and the dormitory was getting a bit stuffy, so she had decided to enter the more spacious common room for a fresh breath of air. She had only been there a minute, deciding whether or not lighting the fire would wake everyone up, when suddenly the fire had been lit and she had not even taken out her wand. Turning around, she had spotted Remus and nearly jumped out of her skin. After that, she didn't remember much, except she must have fallen asleep on the couch. She hoped she had not said anything embarrassing before that, but try as she might, she couldn't recall if she had or not.

Yawning, as she was still tired, she dragged herself up to the fifth year girls' dorm rooms, and lay down. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep yet again.

**************************************************

Harry listened to the laughter and smothered sounds coming from within the dormitories, and decided the Marauders and Ron must be having a pillow fight. He sighed and rolled over, lost in his thoughts. He had thought coming here would be some great adventure, actually being with his parents, Sirius, Remus and even Peter. Now, he began to rethink his decision. He knew that it wasn't until near the end of fifth year that they would be discussing career options, but every time he thought of his parents in the future, his heart fell through to his stomach. Harry knew that his parents would not have much of a future, and it pained him to even think about it. Although Sirius would have a longer time than his parents would, he would be spending most of that time in Azkaban, and Harry had a burning desire to tell him to avoid Peter after Hogwarts that he had a hard time quelling. Surely if he just hinted that if they ever needed a Secret Keeper, they should use Sirius? No, if they did not think he was mad or talking ludicrous, they would just agree with him right away. Sirius had even said that they wanted to use him, and it would do no good betraying his word to Dumbledore to give his parents useless information. It ripped at his heart just to _see_ them, and when he spoke with them, his heart was tearing right out of his chest. He just wanted to leave and have Dumbledore put a Memory Charm on him so he could forget about the whole ordeal. The only thing was, despite what Remus had said, there _had_ to be something going on between him and Hermione, and Ron appeared to be enjoying plotting with the Marauders. What irony. His friends were enjoying their time here more than he was.

"Wake up, Harry!" Sirius shouted and jumped through the canopy to smother Harry with a pillow. Seconds later, Harry felt four other pillows on top of him, and attempted to enjoy himself.

"Get off of me!" Harry yelled, laughing despite the fact that he could hardly breathe. As soon as they backed away a bit, Harry grabbed his own pillow and threw it at Sirius, finally joining in the fight. They were busy all putting their pillows down and sitting on top of James's head when all of a sudden the door flew open.

"WHAT ARE YOU CHILDREN DOING?" Lily shouted.

"Who are you calling 'children', Evans?" Peter asked.

"ALL OF YOU! NOW MAKE YOUR BEDS IN THIRTY SECONDS OR I'M GIVING ALL OF YOU DETENTION!"

"But the house elves will do it!" James protested.

"One, two,…."

Sirius waved his wand and in seconds all the beds were made. He then looked smugly over at Lily, who scowled and stormed away, her posse on her heels.

"Honestly, James, the woman's a nightmare," Sirius spoke, shaking his head.

"Really, Prongs, I don't understand what you see in her," Peter sighed.

"You wouldn't," James snapped, and when all his friends started at him, he apologized, "Look, guys. I'm sorry…it's just that…oh, never mind." James smiled and threw a pillow hard at Harry, and their pillow war started up again.

***********************************

James followed Harry, Ron and the rest of the Marauders into Transfiguration and contented himself with staring at the back of Lily's head. She was so beautiful and intelligent. The fact was, he loved getting her angry. At least she paid attention to him then, as the rest of the time, he might as well have worn his Invisibility Cloak. All the times he had tried to engage her in "civilized" conversation, he had failed miserably. He had even stopped hexing people in the halls. Well, unless they really annoyed him, of course. Or if their name happened to be Severus Snape. Nevertheless, he wished she would just _look_ at him. He didn't understand it. Nearly every other girl in the school did. Maybe that was why he wanted her. Because she was the only girl in the school who _didn't_ look at him. But that was just ridiculous.

Looking down at the small wooden box in front of him that they were supposed to Transfigure into a cockroach, James easily performed the spell and amused himself by prodding it with his wand back and forth. Mr. Ollivander had said his wand was good for Transfiguration, after all. Lily had to know he was good at magic, as well, because he got almost every spell correct the first few times he tried it, but she never seemed to notice.

Deciding he was bored, he picked the cockroach up and stuck it into Emberlynn's frizzy hair and waited for her to notice. All of a sudden, she froze, and James knew his handiwork had taken hold. Sitting back in his chair, he pretended to engage himself in deep conversation with Peter, who had only proceeded to Transfigure the box into a wooden cockroach while looking at Emberlynn out of the corner of his eye. She started breathing in short rasps and let out a loud shriek, in which the whole class turned to stare at her. She was shrieking over and over again, as the Marauders had realized what James had done, and were laughing hysterically.

Professor McGonagall looked around for the source of the problem, and spotted James.

"Mr. Potter, where is your box that you are to be Transfiguring?"

James looked around, feigning confusion. The class was still cracking up, more and more just by looking at James and Emberlynn. James was loving it. He scratched his head.

"I don't know, Professor. It was here just a minute ago." 

The class burst into thunderous hysterics. James made his way up to Lily, pretending to look under desks as he went along. He walked up to Lily, who was glaring at him, and reached behind her ear, and started to search through her hair.

"Nope, not in there!" 

Before Lily could open her mouth to yell at James, Professor McGonagall shouted, "Mr. Potter! That is _enough_! Twenty points from Gryffindor, and get that cockroach out of Miss Lirampla's hair, or I shall have to give you detention!"

Such was James's popularity that the laughter only died by a notch. No one wanted James to think they did not think his pranks were funny. James walked over to Emberlynn.

"There it is! Now why didn't I think to look there before?"

As McGonagall quieted the class down, James shot a chance look at Lily. Her green eyes sparkled with anger, and James thought of how beautiful they were, and what a privilege it was to have such bewitching eyes laid on him.

After class, Emberlynn, who was usually one of those girls who could not take her eyes off James, turned around and proceeded to haughtily ignore him. It was a feat only women could accomplish. Not paying any attention to his friends, who were all slapping him on the back and congratulating him, James couldn't help feeling a bit ashamed. Emberlynn had never done anything to him, and he shouldn't have taken out his frustration on her. He thought he should apologize, but no one would ever catch James Potter apologizing for one of his "brilliant" jokes.

After Transfiguration, the Gryffindors all headed outside to Professor Kettleburn's Care of Magical Creatures class. A man with a permanently frightened look on his face, he only had three fingers on his left hand, and his right hand had been half-severed. Needless to say, he had quite lost his liking for rare, exciting and dangerous creatures, and for the last two years had his classes feeding flobberworms lettuce till they puked. It was an easy class, but James had been looking forward to it third year, only to find it was a great disappointment. Expecting something incredibly boring this year, the Gryffindors walked to class without their usual zeal.

Eyeing what Professor Kettleburn had in cages sitting in front of him, James did not recognize the creatures inside. They were rather cute, and he heard squeals of delight from the girls behind him. He didn't look back to see if Lily was cooing at the creatures, however. His friends had noticed him staring at her in Transfiguration and had been watching him intently to see if he would look at her again. So intent were they in their close examination, James thought they would notice if he so much as thought about Lily.

"Good afternoon, class," Kettleburn squeaked in a voice much too high for a male. At a half-hearted reply from his students, he did not seem to notice their lack of enthusiasm, and went ahead, "These are nifflers. Now, before I let them out, I would ask all of you to please remove anything shiny, and put it in the pile over here." He motioned to a bucket next to him. James removed his watch, and after all the fifth years had put their items in, to the class's horror, Kettleburn waved his wand, and everyone saw their valuables go flying throughout the grounds. Ignoring the cries of outrage, Kettleburn explained to the class what they would be doing.

"Don't worry, class, you'll get your things back," few people relaxed until Kettleburn continued, "Now, each of you will get a niffler. If you haven't guessed now, nifflers are attracted to the luster of certain metals. Gather as many items as you can, until the nifflers do not find anything else, then come back here. Make sure you don't get your own item, and I will explain the rest when you finish."

The lesson was his first enjoyable one as far as Care of Magical Creatures went, because each student got a niffler, and headed out to search. James was forced to run after his niffler, as he seemed intent on something in the far distance. Panting, James saw that no one else was out here, and thought his niffler might be trying to run away. Reaching out to grab him, as he had finally stopped, James picked him up, then looked down at the ground, seeing what looked like a necklace. He had seen the same necklace on Lily, and looked at it for closer inspection. It was made of gold, and had little heart shaped beads going around the golden chain. James considered bewitching it to say "I love James Potter", with a heart bead in between to separate the words, then thought better of it. He saw that most of the students were heading back to Kettleburn, and James ran all the way back, thankful that he was in shape because of his Quidditch training. 

"Now, I want you all to find which of your classmates has your valuable. Once you have done that, return the object to its owner. The owner will then have the chance to ask one favor of you. It can be anything, as long as it is appropriate," Kettleburn fixed the class with a stare with as stern an expression his face would ever possess.

James searched the crowd for whoever held his watch, and his heart skipped a beat as he saw that Lily had it. His jaw dropped in the realization, and his hazel eyes shone with delight. Lily realized at the same moment that James had her necklace, and her jaw dropped, only her face displayed horror.

She snatched the necklace from him and shoved the watch into his hands, then started to walk away.

"Wait, Evans," he called after her. "You have to do something for me. It's part of the lesson."

If looks could kill, James would be dead from the green daggers that were pointed at him. "Alright, Potter. I ask you to stay away from me." As James looked at her in disappointment, her face started to flush. James started at her in surprise, but her face was perfectly calm then. The rouge in her cheeks might as well have never been there.

Confused, but not letting it show in his voice, James replied, "What you can do for me, Evans, is sit next to me at lunch." He smiled wickedly at her. She looked around for help, but all her friends were still talking to whomever had their belongings.

To his surprise, she replied, "Fine, Potter, but only this once. And only because it's for class!" With that, she stormed off, but James couldn't believe his luck. He had expected her to immediately refuse.

Professor Kettleburn dismissed the class, and they headed up to the Great Hall, all talking about what they were going to do for each other. Lily sat down next to Emberlynn, pretending that by chance the seat next to her was empty. James knew better. Ever since she realized he had a crush on her, Lily had made sure she was surrounded by friends so that he could get nowhere near her.

Sitting down next to her, he smiled and said in a cheerful voice, "So, Lily, how are you today? Anything exciting happen in Care of Magical Creatures?"

********************************************

Lily had been horrified when she saw that James had her necklace. She recognized his watch right away, and had almost dropped it again, but it happened to be right near Professor Kettleburn, who had seen her and called her over to wait for the rest of the class. When she had told James she wanted him to stay away from her, no statement could have been opposite what she truly wanted. She knew she was being rude, but if anyone suspected that she liked him…well, she didn't know what she would do if _that_ were to leak out.

Sitting next to Emberlynn, her heart pounding, she nearly leaped out of her skin as he sat next to her and spoke in his wonderful, smooth voice, "So, Lily, how are you today? Anything exciting happen in Care of Magical Creatures?"

Lily felt her temper rise. How could he ask about Kettleburn's class like that? He just infuriated her! She tried to keep her voice under control, which only made it shake. It gave the impression that she was trying to control her temper, which just infuriated her even more. "I'm _fine_, Potter," she snapped, "Just _fine_. And no, nothing happened in class. And how are _you_?" she added sarcastically, in a voice that clearly stated he should not answer if he valued his life.

He answered anyway. "Why, thank you ever so much for asking, Lily. I'm doing quite splendid, really." He smiled one of those mischievous grins that girls drooled over and Lily wished she could as well. Emberlynn certainly was, before Lily shot her a look that should have Petrified her.

Lily finished her lunch, with James trying to engage her in conversation. She pretended the reason she wasn't responding was because she wasn't pleased with the seating arrangements, but the truth was that she didn't think she could have replied. She likely would have gotten all tongue-tied trying to talk to him, thus she murmured responses without looking at him whenever it seemed necessary. 

After what seemed an eternity, lunch was finally over. To Lily's horror, James grabbed her arm. She jerked it away and retorted, "What is it, Potter? I sat next to you, did I not?"

"No, Lily, I just want to ask you a question," James looked over at her friends, and Lily was irate to see them shoot her knowing glances and walk away.

"What is, Potter? I don't have time for this."

"I only wanted to ask you if you could teach me that Memory Charm we learned in Flitwick's class. We could find an unused classroom after the evening feast."

Lily melted. James Potter was asking _her_ for help? _Well, you always were better than him at Charms_, she thought audaciously. He had beaten her in nearly every other class, however. Not that she would ever admit to it.

"You think I want to be in a classroom with you when I have much more important things to be done? Maybe you should have paid attention instead of turning Rosa's hair different colors." Well, it had been rather hilarious. Not that she had laughed.

"Please, Lily?" He was _pleading _with her?

She sniffed in a manner that said she was going against her better judgement. "I suppose, Potter, but you better pay attention and get it right away. If you do anything but pay due respect to me as if I were a teacher, I won't ever do it again." 

__

No! I'm so stupid! Now I sound like a teacher, what's he going to think of me? Not to mention I just said he might do something other than perform the charm. To top it off, I just told him that if he behaved, I'd do it again! I'm not stupid, I'm a braindead fool!

And he had caught the mention of another time in her statement, as he looked positively delighted. "I'll see you then, Lily, after the feast! Unless, of course, you'd like to sit next to me again? There's always room--"

Lily turned around on her heel with such force that she nearly fell over, then stalked off away from James. If she had been a cat, her tail would be a bottlebrush and all her hairs would be on end.

******************************************

Hi!

Hmmm I decided to stop here….

Well, at least for you readers…

I'm about to continue right now, but you won't see what I'm writing till you review ;)

By the way, if you want me to tell you when I update, just send me an email @ AnGeLDrEaMz789@aol.com, but make sure to put something in the subject line as I get tons of junkmail and delete anything with no subject.

Au revoir!

*Sammy-Jo*


	5. Abandoned Classroms

James could not _believe_ his luck. He could not remember a time when Lily had ever agreed to do something for him, and now she did. _Twice_ in one day. He could have jumped for joy. He practically floated down the hallway to Astronomy, causing his friends to shoot suspicious glances at him. But he did not care. Oh, most definitely not. Lily Evans was going to be in an empty classroom with _him_. And teach him Charms, of course, but that could always be overlooked.

Astronomy, taught by an old man who was under the impression that he was a Seer, tended to use his lessons for predicting fortunes, not looking at stars. Oh, their homework was always to make star charts, and diagrams of Jupiter's moons. But he never went over the subject matter at all, and always proceeded to tell the students that they had a most dire future. He appeared to make a game of it, and particularly liked picking on James. Walking into the classroom, James trudged to a desk in the back of the room, where he was likely not to be seen. To his surprise, Harry sat down next to him and smiled.

"So, what's this class like?" Harry asked. "Is it any good?"

"Not at all," James answered in such a voice that Harry looked at him strangely. "We have not had a Divination teacher in a number of years," James explained, "but Professor Trumpwort appears to think he can predict the future through the stars." James shook his head. "He especially likes to inform me I have an extremely short lifeline and won't live long after school." James smiled to show he thought it was all ludicrous. "At least he thinks I'll live that long."

To James's surprise, Harry had a look on his face that James couldn't quite place. Perhaps it was…pity? But no, surely Harry couldn't believe in all that nonsense. Maybe he was…no, there was no use thinking about it, and Harry had wiped the expression of his face, so James brushed it off and attempted to pay attention to Trumpwort's beginning of the year speech.

"Good morning class," he droned in a boring voice only rivaled by that of Professor Binns, the History teacher, "today, we will be making charts of our own galaxy." _Surprise, Surprise_, James thought sarcastically. "Now, two people to every telescope, and take turns looking through it. Do not copy, but you may help each other." _Is that not the same thing?_ James remembered many a time where he had copied off of Remus's paper, insisting that he only needed to check his own. 

As he and Harry made their way across the room to a telescope, Trumpwort gasped. _Here we go again._ But to James's surprise, it was not himself, but Harry that Trumpwort moved towards. "My dear boy, you must be new here. What is your name?"

"Erm..Harry Porter…" 

"Mr. Porter, am I correct to say that you were born in July?"

James expected Harry to say he was born in midwinter, but to his surprise, Harry answered, "Erm…yes, actually. July 31st." James nearly gaped, but stopped himself just in time.

"Yes, you were born when Mars was bright red. This informs me that you have the shortest life span I have ever heard of. Even shorter than Mr. Potter here."

"Isn't Mars _always_ bright red?" James, Harry and even Trumpwort jumped. Hermione was speaking. "Well, it is. And I thought this was supposed to be Astronomy. That is quite a bit more exact than Divination."

"Miss--?"

"Hermione Gropet."

"Miss Gropet, you have no right to criticize me. I was born with the Inner Eye, and I can see you have no talent for it. Now, if you and Mr. Weasel would get back to work, please?"

James and Harry took the last remaining telescope on the end, next to Hermione and Ron.

"What was _that_ all about?" James inquired suspiciously.

"In our old school," Hermione replied in an almost Know-it-All voice, "I used to take Divination, and found it was a most imprecise branch of magic." Hermione sniffed. "If you can even call it magic. Needless to say, I dropped the pointless class."

James looked at Harry quizzically. "Professor Trelawney liked to inform me that I had a short lifeline as well. I'm used to it by now, though. Always seeing _The Grim_ in my tea leaves…"

James laughed, surprising all of them. "Well then, you can join the short lifeline club with me, Harry. We can both waltz around and croak at the ripe old age of eighteen."

"Well, you'll live longer than _that_." Ron spoke for the first time, and Hermione was glaring daggers at him, to James's surprise. He and the other Marauders' former suspicions were brought into play. He didn't suspect the three of them were Seers or fortune tellers of any sort, but they all appeared to know the goings on at Hogwarts fairly well. They had not even asked for directions once, or had the grace to look up as the owl post came for the first day. It was as if they were not expecting any letters to come. James suspected they were all orphans and decided not to look into their past too much. Some people could get very touchy on that subject, particularly those with no parents.

"Umm…I meant…my mum always says you should look for the best in things. Live life to the fullest, she always says." Then Ron's ears turned red. 

__

Says…Present tense, then. So Ron at least was not parentless. James stopped pondering it all, as his head was beginning to hurt. Remus was the thinker, not he.

Before he knew it, Astronomy was over and all he and Harry had accomplished was a few dots on their charts. Oh well, he'd just have to copy from Remus later. James shot a chance glance at Remus and saw he was looking very tired in particular. Of course. It was the week before the full moon, and Remus always became extremely fatigued at this time in the moon's phases. He had not yet told Ron, Hermione and Harry the reason behind the nicknames, and he did not think he would until Remus gave his consent. It was, after all, mainly his secret. There was the little part about himself, Sirius and Peter becoming Animagi, but that could be revealed at the same time it was discovered that Remus was a werewolf. If Remus ever chose to divulge that information.

They had had all their lessons for the day, as Potions was tomorrow. James wished Hermione had stood up for herself, but supposed that might have only done worse damage and had more points taken away from Gryffindor. At the next Quidditch match he would earn all the points back that they had lost plus some, so it did not worry him much. He did not want to know what they would be doing with the Truth Potions, though. He had to make sure he was partners with someone he knew would not ask him embarrassing questions. Namely, not one of his friends. Either way, he was sure whoever in the class was paired up with him would take advantage of the opportunity to ask him questions, so frankly he was dreading the lesson.

Entering the common room, he saw that despite his obvious jade, Remus was talking animatedly with Hermione. He thought there was something going on between the two, then again they could just be talking about some assignment. It would be most like him.

James decided to head over to Lily and annoy her so she would pay attention to him, when suddenly Emberlynn spotted him, and all the girls followed her up to the dormitory. Was she _still_ remembering the events in Transfiguration? Only women could hold grudges for long.

Sitting down and rolling out his parchment with the pitiful galaxy chart on it, he looked up to ask Remus to give him his own diagram so James could "check his own". When he looked around, though, both Remus and Hermione were gone. Smiling smugly to himself, he assumed that maybe they had gone into some abandoned classroom. Which only reminded James of his own rendezvous tonight with Lily.

********************************************

Remus was delighted with how things were going between him and Hermione. He could not say if she was romantically interested in him or not, but she was certainly getting to know him better. He was a bit tired, as he felt that the full moon would be coming in a week, but was able to ignore his symptoms of slight nausea by chatting with Hermione. After Astronomy, they had followed their fellow Gryffindors into the common room. Hermione informed Remus that Harry usually did nothing in any of his classes except perhaps Defense Against the Dark Arts, and had not finished his star chart. At an inquiry from Remus, she had admitted that James had not done his either. Knowing that James would likely want to copy his work, Remus asked Hermione if she wanted to go to the empty Charms classroom and finish some of their homework together there. He had thought that might be a bit too forward, but to his fruition, she had agreed with what he thought was enthusiasm. 

Hermione opened the door, peered in, and seeing that it was indeed empty, lit all the torches with her wand. "What do you want to work on first, Remus?" Was it his imagination, or had she put a slight caress to her voice on the word "Remus"? No, that couldn't be.

"Transfiguration, I suppose." He smiled in remembrance. "Professor McGonagall is likely to remember the incidents of today, and grade them harder than usual."

"Yes, that's a good idea. He reminds me of Si--someone I used to know." She looked at the floor, and he saw a tear leak from the corner of her eye. "He's no longer alive, but in his time, he was a great prankster." The oddity of it was, he had thought she was going to say "Sirius" instead of "someone". But that was rubbish, as she had only known Sirius for a week now. And he was most certainly not dead. He realized with a start that salty drops were now pouring down her face, and was awkward, as he did not know what to do. He was certain Sirius or James would, but he was just not good with girls himself.

"Ahm…I'm really sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories." He had the sudden impulse to hug her, to try to comfort her, but held back.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffling slightly. She was beautiful even then. "No, Remus, it's not your fault. I did not even know him very well, but the circumstances in which he died were just horrible." She looked up at him, laughing weakly. "I suppose you must think me a weepy, lily-livered milksop, and a--"

"No, Hermione! Not at all! In fact, I can't imagine how hard it must be for you to have suffered a loss like that, as I have never been through anything like that before." Well, that was not entirely true as he felt he was a burden to his family after being bitten, but this was a loss in a different way.

This time, Remus did move in to embrace her. She gave a small start, but did not pull away, to Remus's immense relief. He squeezed her tighter, stroking her hair, when suddenly she looked up at him and gave a laugh that was not weak at all, but full of mirth.

"We really didn't get much done, now did we, Remus?" There was a definite caress to her voice there. "It's nearly time for the feast, we should head down to the Great Hall now."

*******************************************

Hermione berated herself for breaking down like that. She was not one of those schmaltzy girls who burst into tears at every little thing. What must he think of her now? He did try to comfort her, yes, but he must have been thinking the entire time of how soppy she was. She _had_ confirmed, however that werewolves _had_ to be stronger when they were in human form than the average strength, as when he had tightened his grip, he had nearly squeezed her to death. Not that she was complaining.

She remembered where she was when her stomach gave a lurch, as she had eaten almost nothing the whole day, being absorbed in conversation with Remus. She felt perfectly starved, but wished she could stay in his arms forever.

She laughed, then continued in an almost self-deprecating voice, "We really didn't get much done, now did we, Remus? It's nearly time for the feast, we should head down to the Great Hall now."

He grinned in his knee-weakening way that only he could master and replied, "You're absolutely correct, My Lady." Was the "my lady" going to continue? It embarrassed Hermione, and she was glad there was only the two of them in the room. "Would you allow me to escort you to the dining room?"

Hermione decided to play along. "Of course, good sir. You may accompany me." She held out her hand palm down in an imitation of the pictures she had seen where the lady offers her hand. To her horror and delight, he kissed it lightly, a twinkle in his mesmerizing blue eyes, and rested her hand lightly on his arm.

They exited the Charms classroom and walked slowly towards the Great Hall. Hermione was rather enjoying herself, yet she was relieved that they did not pass anyone in the corridors, and more than gratified to discover that none of their friends were there in their usual seating arrangement. There were a few second years near the end of the table, but they were all in deep conversation.

Remus helped her into her seat, then after making a great show to make sure she was comfortable, he spoke in an exaggeratedly polite voice. "Do I have My Lady's permission to sit next to her?"

"You do, kind gentleman," she nodded as if they were at a formal wassail and he was her manservant.

"You do grace me with your presence, good Lady," he smiled, then they laughed knowingly just as the Marauders, Ron and Harry came and took their seats near them.

James looked at them suspiciously. "We wondered where you two were. You weren't snogging in some broom closet, were you? Cause I really needed to look at your galaxy chart, Remus."

Remus and Hermione glanced at each other and burst into hysterics, as they both knew that their friends would want to "take a look" at their galaxy diagrams later.

"You _were_ snogging, weren't you!" Peter cried. It wasn't a question.

"Of course not," Remus said with a wink. What was he playing at? He was making it sound like they _had _been up to something. Harry and Ron were looking at Hermione with varying degrees of astonishment.

Hermione chuckled softly. "No, Harry. Ron. I don't know _what_ Remus is talking about." Then _she_ grinned with a wink! 

__

What did I do that for? Now it looks like we're hiding something! Well we are_, aren't we?_

For the rest of the evening, all the boys were glancing sideways at Hermione and Remus. If only she could wipe the smirk she knew touched her lips at that moment! 

*******************************************

Lily sat on top of one of the vacant desks, one hand holding her wand, the other drumming her fingertips on the surface of the wooden table. She couldn't believe it. James was _late_. She had been looking forward to this so much, as she knew he would get the Memory Charm on first try, if he didn't know it already and was just using an excuse to be alone with her. She just wanted to see James again, but if he didn't come in five minutes, she was going to--

"Sorry I'm late, Evans, I had to cop--erm…look at Remus's galaxy chart," James interrupted her thoughts.

Lily sniffed. "Likely you were copying, Potter. I _told_ you not to be late." She slid off the desk to face James.

James gave her an apologetic look that made her want to forgive him on the spot. "I'm sorry, Lily, it's just--"

"Never you mind that, Potter, let's just get this lesson over with. Wand out, now."

"You know what I think we should do for this lesson, Lily?"

"I don't care what you think we should do. I'm the teacher here. Now, practice this wand movem--"

"I think we should tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets, then perform the Memory Charm on each other."

What a ridiculous idea. If she were to reveal _her_ secret…that she clandestinely liked James…no, that was something that must never be deduced.

Ignoring him, she continued. "You must practice the motion first, though willpower behind it is required as well. It's very simple, it's a wave to the left, then a jab movement. Like this." She demonstrated. "Now you try."

James did it so horribly that he could not possibly have been trying. "I'm sorry, Lily. I can't seem to master it as well as you can. Perhaps you can move my arm to show me the exact motion." He had such an innocent expression on his face, Lily thought she was going to melt.

She instead grabbed his arm forcefully, then quickly put it through the correct sequence, perhaps a bit harder than she should have. _I did _not_ just notice how strong his arm is._

He then, of course, performed it perfectly. Scowling, Lily then went on to explain further. "Now, I suspect you were at least listening to the incantation while Rosa's hair was slowly turning bubble gum pink," her lips twitched, and she carefully controlled her mirth to continue. "It's _Obliviate_, and make sure to put an emphasis on the '_livi_'. It will only work through sheer force of will, however. You must not only _want_ the victim to forget, you must be in dire _need_ of them to forget. That is why we don't have everybody performing Memory Charms on every person they see, as I imagine you would try to do. You now see why we can't use your burlesque suggestion."

James took his wand, and although he did the swish and jab correctly, he kept saying things like "Livioblate! No, Obviatelivi! No, that's not it either. Atilivio! Oblati--"

"Stop! You're doing this on purpose, James Potter!"

"Oh, so we're on a first name basis now, are we? In that case--" then the ridiculous idiot reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist. 

Pulling her in, she gasped, then went to raise her wand, and realized she had left it on the desk behind her when showing James the correct motion. Reaching around behind her, groping for her wand, her fingers brushed it, then he grabbed her and lifted her so only her toes were on the floor into a passionate kiss. She stopped fighting for a few seconds, as it was absolutely wonderful, then came back to her senses. Reaching with her free hand that had brushed her wand, she mustered her strength and slapped James in a full armed smack that made him drop her and step backwards in surprise. She saw it left a red handprint on his cheek. Turning around, she grabbed her wand and pointed it at James, making him freeze.

"If you ever try anything like that again, Potter, or even so much as _whisper_ about what happened in here, I'll curse you so badly you won't know up from down!"

He just stared at her with no expression whatsoever on his face, which only made her want to cry, but she could not let him see that. He was standing in the doorway, but as soon as she moved to leave, he quickly stepped out of the way. She ran into a desk hard on the way out, but didn't pause to put it back in place. As soon as she was out of the room, she realized tears were streaming down her face, and she ran up to the Gryffindor common room. She did not even pause to apologize when she ran into a startled Ravenclaw fourth year, and blindly made her way to the portrait hole. The Fat Lady looked astonished to see she was crying, but before she could ask any questions, Lily all but shouted "Nicholas Flamel"! and ran up to the girls dormitories, ignoring the curious glances from her fellow Housemates.

As soon as she entered the room, now nearly sobbing, Ayanna took one look at her and said, "It's him, isn't it. Potter." It was not a question.

*************************************

James just stood there, staring at the door that Lily had slammed only minutes before. Or was it minutes? It seemed like hours. He had been such a fool to give into impulse like that. Now he had no chance of her ever coming to like him in the way that he liked her. James even thought he might love Lily. 

Carefully straightening the desk she had knocked askew, James pocketed his wand and slowly made his way towards Gryffindor House, heart in his knees. He knew it had just been a kiss, but he felt almost like he had…_taken advantage_ of Lily. Of course, that was to the extreme and he knew he would do no such thing, but he couldn't seem to wash the feeling away.

He made his way to the boys' dormitories, not acknowledging the remarks of sympathy from some of the others who must have realized what had happened. He entered the room where the fifth years appeared to be having a pillow fight, minus Remus, who seemed to have gone missing with Hermione again.

As soon as Sirius saw James's crestfallen face, he stopped, earning himself a blow to the head, then quickly stood up and walked over to James.

"Evans." It was a statement.

*************************************

*boing boing boing* *bounces off a few walls and the ceiling*

sooo…did you like it? 

cause if you didn't, you're welcome to flame!

by the way…sorry about the "Ye Olde" language I used with Hermione…it just seemed fitting…

these romances going on are starting to confuse me…who's who?

ok, I'm done now ;)

yay!

au revoir!

*Sammy-Jo*


	6. The Truth Potion

The man who was once known as Tom Marvelo Riddle crouched behind a bush, peering up at the large building before him. Narrow red eyes regarded the entrance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which surprisingly appeared to be unguarded. Voldemort knew better, though. He assumed the fool Muggle-loving Headmaster Albus Dumbledore would have all kinds of anti-Dark spells if he did not already have enchantments that would alert the entire castle to his presence. No, it would require much more than stealth to get into the heavily guarded fortress.

Voldemort considered his options. His long-term plan was to rid the world of all Muggles and Muggle-born witches and wizards, even though he himself had a Muggle father. The worthless, pathetic excuse for a father that left him in an orphanage as a child. And he _dared_ to name his son after himself. Oh yes, the Muggles must go; yet that was not in Voldemort's itinerary this time. He had discovered the fool boy's plan through carelessness on the Ministry of Magic's part. The imbecile Cornelius Fudge announced to the entire wizarding world that not only was he back and come to power again, but that Albus Dumbledore had been given the Ministry's top secret invention.

Voldemort laughed a cruel, high-pitched laugh that could make the bravest man flinch. So much for top secret. Did they really think he did not have his own news sources and minions within the Ministry itself? Why, Lucius Malfoy was one of the most loyal of all his Death Eaters. The bloody idiots see gold, and they fall all over the man, giving him all kinds of awards and prizes and fool things such as that. They could not have made it any easier for Lucius to just walk into the Department of Mysteries and steal one of the time turners to bring to his master.

There was one snag in the plan. Without the Prophecy, Voldemort had no idea what the consequences of killing the boy's parents could do. It could possibly ruin all these years he had waited to return to full power yet again. If he killed the children that would be Potter's parents in the future, Harry Potter would cease to exist. Without the damn Prophecy, Voldemort could do nothing. He scowled at a robin in such a way that the bird fell right out of the tree. The man-like creature that was no longer called Riddle slunk off towards his hideout.

****************************************

James thought he had reached an all-time low. He was so depressed, he didn't even try to get Lily mad anymore, afraid of her attentions. In fact, he had even stopped playing pranks on his classmates. James even went so far as to be attentive in his classes. Well, at least more so than usual. He didn't think he could ever listen to Professor Binns for a full five minutes.

Also for the first time, he had stopped looking to see if Lily noticed him. If Lily saw that he was participating in classes, James was not aware of it, as he did his best to avoid her gaze. His friends kept giving him encouragement, telling him to just apologize to her, but James did not think he could. He had never apologized before.

__

This is my own fault. I don't deserve Lily. She needs someone who will respect her wishes and she can talk to. I proved myself unworthy.

Lost in thought, he forgot to attempt to hex Snape on the way to Potions. Then he realized with dread that today was the day where they would be using Truth Potions. Praying that he would end up with someone like absent-minded Rosa, he entered the class full of dread. Sitting down, he saw Hermione come in and scowl at the back of the room, where he knew she was deciding if she should sit on the floor or not. Motioning to her and trying to conjure up a smile but failing miserably, he gestured towards the empty seat next to him. Looking relieved, she smiled and walked over, murmuring almost silent thanks, as she obviously didn't want Professor Hopnill to overhear her speaking.

Hopnill glared at Hermione as if he hated her with a passion, but did not say anything about the seating arrangements, to James's relief. "Today, class, we will be making Truth Potions. As they take a full month to create, I have started them out, and today you will finish them. You will each receive a piece of parchment with a list of questions, with which you are to use to quiz the classmate you are paired up with. Instead of choosing your own partners, I will pick them for you." He grinned evilly at the class, and James heard many around him swallow hard. Hopnill then made a show of pairing the Gryffindors with the person whom they disliked the most, or at least were not friends with, and the Slytherins with exactly who they wanted.

"Black and Rendante."

"Pettigrew and Lirampla."

"Lupin and Wintorko."

"Gropet and Malfoy."

"Weasel and Snape."

__

No! I can't be with her!

"Potter and Evans."

Hopnill smirked, as both Lily and James had horrified looks on their faces. He then proceeded to allow all the remaining students to choose whomever they wanted to partner up with.

James quickly put his cauldron on his desk and started chopping the heads off caterpillars, intent on his project. He heard the chair beside him move as Hermione vacated the seat. As soon as he had finished mincing the insect, he put it into his cauldron and heard the chair slide against the stone of the dungeon floor again and someone slammed their cauldron down. Lily. He heard a deep intake of breath, and then the sound of a knife working, but didn't bother to look over.

Finally finishing the potion, James turned slowly to Lily and got out the sheet of paper with the questions they were allowed to ask on it. They were each to take three drops of their own potion, as if it was made incorrectly, they could poison their partners.

Realizing Lily had taken her potion, he read off the parchment in a dull voice: "What are your goals for the future?" 

"I want to become an Auror." 

"List the members in your family."

"My sister, Petunia,…"

James continued down the list, mumbling half the questions so that they had to be repeated. After he had finished, he took three drops of the potion and for the first time looked at Lily.

*********************************************

Lily thought she would die of a broken heart. She had never seen James like this, he had always been the life of the party, so to speak. And knowing she was the cause of his pain was just the last straw. She had cried herself to sleep the past few nights. Tonight, she thought about what had happened in Potions. She had done her best to act all huffy when she sat down, but he had not even looked up. He didn't even bother to look at her until it was her turn to quiz him. When he had rested his hazel gaze upon her, they were flat and expressionless. She knew men had a hard time expressing their emotions, but she had hoped for him to say something, anything more than what was required for the lesson. Instead, he had answered her inquiries in a flat, dull voice, and as soon as class was over, turned away and walked out without a backwards glance.

He appeared almost remorseful, so much so that Lily felt she should be the one to apologize. She _had_ slapped him. But he had kissed her without her consent. She had a reason to hit him. But was it reason enough? No, of course it was, but perhaps she should talk to him. But how? His friends had picked up on his mood and were constantly surrounding him in an attempt to cheer him up. For that matter, her own clique was trying the same on her. It had about as much effect on her as it did on James. Very little, if any.

After another week of almost sleeplessness, Lily couldn't take it anymore. She marched up the steps to the fifth year boys' dormitories, and rapped on the door. Sirius opened it and immediately tried to close it, as she saw they were playing Exploding Snap in the room, causing billows of smoke to rise out the door. Lily started to choke, and at any other time she would have yelled at them and perhaps given all of them detentions, but for now she just gave Sirius a look that made him stop and stare at her.

"I want to talk to Potter, so get out of the way, Black." Perhaps that was a bit rude, but luckily, he appeared to understand and nodded.

"All of you, out of this room! No, James, you stay there."

Sirius let all the protests from his friends slide off his back, and soon they were all out, all except for James. He was sitting on his bed, apparently not having taken part in the activity. Lily walked slowly over to James, all of a sudden unsure of what to say. She looked towards the edge of the bed and raised her eyebrows in a silent question. James nodded and gestured to the spot next to him, implying that she should sit down. Lily obliged, the bed creaking slightly under her weight.

For a while, the two just sat and stared at each other. Lily then swallowed and spoke in a voice so soft that she was surprised James heard. "I--I'm sorry, Po--James."

James's hazel eyes shone in surprise and almost confusion. "For what, Lily? You didn't do anything. It was me. I'm--" James touched his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Lily was touched, as it was obviously hard for him to offer compensation for his actions. He swallowed once, took a deep breath, then continued. "I'm sorry, Lily. It's all my fault. I've liked you for so long, but after what I did--I just don't deserve you." He licked his lips and his eyes widened slightly, as if he were surprised he had admitted all of that. He then smiled, and Lily couldn't help grinning back. "I didn't tell anyone about it, but you have my full permission to hex me with the curse of your choice."

Lily crossed her legs and tapped her lips, pretending to think it through. "Well, I suppose I could use Jelly-Legs on you, but that's so elementary, plus the effects aren't lasting. There always is the Stunning Curse, and I could leave you in a closet to rot, but that wouldn't be nice, now would it? I could cast the Full-Body Bind, but that just doesn't seem fitting. It's too bad you're only letting me _curse_ you, as I could always Transfigure you into a goat or something like that. I might do that anyway!" She pulled out her wand, and James held his hands up in mock-horror.

"Please! I beg of you, mercy!" He belied his true feelings by laughing, and Lily joined in.

Lily grinned wickedly. "Now, James, as I never got a chance to show you, I'll demonstrate the Memory Charm for you now. I will use your suggestion of betraying my darkest secret, then you will see how it's done. If you remember it, of course. My secret is: I've always thought your jokes were funny, although I've never laughed. The reason for that is…" Lily pursed her lips together then released them and spoke. "I like you too. _Oblivia_--"

"_Expelliarmus!_"

Lily watched with horror as the wand shot out of her hand and landed in James's.

"Lost your chance to curse me, Lily. I never said I wouldn't defend myself. By the way, that was two secrets in one."

Lily attempted to get mad at him for the obvious unfairness of the whole situation, but she couldn't seem to master the glare that she had grown so used to while looking at James the past five years.

"I'm going to count to three and if the wand is not back in my hand by then…" she mustered as much of a glare as she could, then continued. "One, two, three! James Potter, give that back to me now!"

"You have to get it back from me," James taunted.

Lily launched herself on top of him, and grabbed at the hand that held her wand, which he swung to the other side out of reach. Both of them were laughing hysterically, Lily still trying to get her wand back, when the door swung open on its hinges to reveal the face of Emberlynn.

"Oh! Lily, I was just looking for you. Black said you were up here, but I'm sorry if I was interrupting anything…" A devilish grin slowly spread across Emberlynn's face, and Lily knew that unless she said something, she and James would be the talk of the fifth years.

"No, Emberlynn! He took my wand, I'm only trying to get it back."

Emberlynn raised her eyebrows and Lily realized she was in the frozen position of laying flat on top of James's chest and leaning forward across his face. James, of course, ruined it all by conjuring up an evil smirk of his own.

"Oh, no, Emberlynn. You're not interrupting anything. Lily uses the excuse of her wand, but we all know what she wants--"

"POTTER! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

Of course, all the fifth years had to come and peer into the door, curious as to what James had done this time. Everyone was falling down in the doorway, laughing, James included.

"All of you. OUT. I'm going to count to three." Lily spoke in a dangerously calm voice, which caused everybody to quickly leave.

"You sure like counting, don't you, Lily? Or can't you count past three? You know, after three there is a ten, seven, four, nine--"

As James was distracted, Lily reached forward and finally grabbed her wand. Sitting down firmly on his chest with fake haughtiness, she pointed it at his throat and made a violent motion as if to slit it.

"No! I'll never do it again, Lily. I promise."

Satisfied, Lily slid off James and planted her feet on the floor, hands on her hips in mock sternness. "If you ever do anything of the sort again, I shall have to give you detention. Good day to you." With that, she turned around and proceeded to walk to the door. Hand on the knob, she heard James whisper, just loud enough so she could hear.

"Unless the situation calls for it."

Whirling around, Lily fixed him with a strict gaze, but he looked innocently up at the canopy on his bed as if he had said nothing.

While heading to her own dormitory, Lily fought hard to keep down a smile. The truth was, she was positively beaming and couldn't seem to wipe the expression off her face. As soon as she closed the door, Lily was nearly tackled by her three roommates, Rosa included.

"So, Lily, how was it? Did he apologize?"

"Did you and James…do anything?"

"Oh, you're so lucky!"

Lily just gave them all a look of countenance, and said nothing, much to their dismay.

**********************************************

*Boing!*

Yes, it's a shorter chapter than most, but I need you all to vote:

Who's relationship/events should I continue more closely? *I will likely have already written the 7th chapter when you're voting, but this is just a poll for future chapters*

Continue with Lily and James, Remus and Hermione, A POV from Ron, Another POV from Harry, or Anything you can think of that you want me to do ;) 

By the way: I really appreciate all of you reviewing. Thanks so much, I like hearing that someone's reading my stories!

*Sammy-Jo*


	7. The Unasked Request

Hi!

Ok, ok…nearly everyone's been demanding more Hermione/Remus, so I promise I will include a lot more of them as it goes on! A few people hinted (*cough*Snivelly*cough*) that they would like Lily and James as well, and I promise there will be more where that came from :). I love all my reviewers and take their suggestions to heart (most of the time), but there are a few I have to include personal notes to :).

Cataclysmic: Hehe thanks for the comment about the robin…yes, that was my first attempt on Voldemort, I have never done him before. I'm glad you liked it, I didn't trust myself at the time to make him talk, but I will have to in future chapters, so wish me luck! And there will be some more plotting sessions…not that many, really, but at the end, there's gonna be---oh wait! I can't tell you that ;).

Lily Skylo: Oh, great idea! I'm going to use your suggestion about how Remus of Hermione's time would react….*evil plots come to mind*….

Taryn Weasley: What was that you said? You want more Lily and James? No? Oh! Hermione and Remus…I get it now ;).

Corey: Yep, they're my favorite couple :). Plenty more where that came from!

Slinkey: Hope you liked your cookies! Don't break out in too many boils! *evil plots for potions to put in the next batch of cookies*

Snivelly: Ok, I'll add more of Remus and Hermione just like you asked! Mwahahahahaha! *ahem* Ha.

**__**

NOTE-Y NOTE NOTE NOTE: OOOOOOkkkk….By the way, before you read this, note that I was a bit hyper as I was on many cans of Pepsi at the time…I almost never write Author's Notes in my stories, but there's a number in here ;). Disregard them please, like I said…I was crazy and mentally deranged at the time…or maybe I am all the time…*ponders this*

Oh well!

*Sammy-Jo*

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE UNASKED REQUEST

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Hermione walked jovially down the hall, a bounce in her step. Her medium brown hair was as frizzy and bushy as ever, yet she had taken extra pains to work all the tangles out. Her favorite scent from the Muggle shop Victoria's Secret, Passionate Kisses, lightly graced her aura. She was not one for caking on pounds of makeup, but a sheer pink gloss touched her lips. Brown eyes sparkling, she turned the corner and immediately fixed a piercing gaze down the corridor, looking for a certain someone. (A/N: *cough*Remus*cough*) Shrewdly examining the few students there, Hermione did not spot the familiar shaggy brown hair and deep aqua eyes. Unaffected and not in the least discouraged, she continued in her hunt. Having found out that the next Hogsmeade visit would be coming up this weekend, she was determined to get Remus to ask her. In the worst case, if he failed to pick up on her obvious clues, she would ask him herself. Nonetheless, Hermione preferred Remus ask her so she could know what he truly felt about their relationship. 

Passing the library, she began to pick up speed. She could not go into the library right now, although she had been dying to read a book on the history of Hogsmeade. That would just have to wait, because there were more important matters at hand. Laughing to herself, Hermione recalled a time when _nothing_ was more important than her next bit of reading material. Before she passed the last door, as there were many entrances to the extensive selection of books, she slowed slightly and decided to look in. After all, perhaps Remus was there. There he was! She walked as quickly as she could, turning to enter the doorway, not caring if she looked a bit _too_ eager. Shifting her books to one arm and raising the other to wave, Hermione smashed headfirst into something _hard_.

Flushing a deep rouge, without looking up, she quickly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear in a familiar nervous habit and hastily began picking up the books. Finally gathering them all in a pile, she looked up and grinned sheepishly.

"I'm really sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going, and I--"

"Watch your step, Mudblood," Lucius Malfoy drawled almost lazily. Hermione was very disconcerted to see that there was a faint smirk on his lips.

"I _said_ I was sorry! In civilized conversation, we like to respond to that with--"

"If you aren't out of my sight in ten seconds, Gropet…" he left it hanging there, a hint of warning in his tone.

Something in Hermione snapped. She was _furious_! No one, and that especially meant Malfoy, was going to ruin her day! Not a soul had the right to speak to her that way! She suddenly stood up, the pieces of literature lay forgotten on the floor. Malfoy looked like he wanted to step back, his arrogant expression fading slightly, then quickly snapped back into place. Hermione took a deep breath, then rushed forward to hit him, bringing her hand in as hard as she could in a full-armed slap. She was satisfied when a sharp snap and a sting on her palms announced that she had struck home.

Hermione was about to reach back for another one when Malfoy grabbed her arm and twisted it around her back. It hurt like hell, but Hermione didn't let out a cry of pain and turned to fix him stare for stare.

"You won't be trying that again, you filthy little Mudblood!"

"Oh really, Malfoy? Well then,--" 

She reached for her wand when abruptly something large and dense roughly knocked the wind out of her. Surprised, Hermione looked up only to realize she was on the hard wooden floor. He had…_hit_ her! She was stunned, as no one, especially not a guy, had ever hit her before. Even Lucius looked dumbly at his hand that was still curled into a fist, then down at Hermione, blinking stupidly as if he didn't know what he had just done. The wave of nausea that comes when one's wind has been knocked out came, and Hermione winced and hunched over, pressing hard against her midriff in a vain attempt to drive away the ache. Once the shock had worn away, pain hit her hard like another blow to her stomach and her eyes shone with unshed tears. She absolutely refused to cry in Malfoy's presence, however. Then the voice she had longed to hear the entire evening sounded.

"What?" Remus looked from Hermione to Lucius, who was slowly backing away. "How?" His eyes widened in realization and fury. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER, MALFOY?"

Lucius stopped moving and attempted to speak in a mocking voice. He failed miserably. "Me? I didn't do anything to her, Lupin. Why don't you ask the filthy little Mudblood herself why she's gawking there like the verminous trash she is!"

"That's it." Remus spoke in a dangerously calm voice, an infuriated light in his eyes. Hermione knew what he was going to do instantly.

Remus moved forward threateningly and Hermione winced as the loud thud of Remus's fist connecting with Lucius's chest sounded. Lucius, who had obviously not been expecting the strength behind the blow stood up and dusted himself off.

"That hurt, Malfoy? Now scram!"

But Lucius did not take orders from others. "Are you referring to the dust on my robes? You must be mistaken, because the taint comes from Gropet over there."

Malfoy then drew his arm back in what looked like it would be a powerful hit. Hermione, who had been backing up slowly to where her books lay strewn about the floor, closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. It never came, however, and she opened one eye, then the other to see the astonished face of Lucius. Remus had caught the fist in one of his hands easily and brought his other one up in a sharp attack to the head. Malfoy fell over, obviously unconscious. (A/N: I told you werewolves have more strength! Mwahahahaha! Ha. [Plus it's more romantic that way.]) Both Hermione and Remus stared for a few seconds, then Remus turned around and moved over to Hermione, the fighting spark gone from his eyes.

He smiled concernedly down at Hermione, extending a hand. She started to take it, then remembered her books. (A/N: Such a handy prop, they are.) Remus waved his wand, and they immediately transferred to the arm that was not being offered. She smiled, slightly embarrassed at the events, and took it. She tried not to grimace at the pain she knew would be there for a while, but must have failed because Remus frowned.

"Are you ok, Hermione?" He asked in a voice so unlike the one he used with Malfoy that it was startling. "Let's go in here and you can tell me what happened." He pulled open the door to what appeared to be a lounge room with a few wooden chairs and a large, comfortable looking couch. (A/N: Three guesses where they'll be sitting…) Remus led Hermione to the couch (A/N: Ha! You people who guessed wooden chairs got it wrong! Ok, I'm done now.), an arm around her shoulders.

By then, Hermione trusted herself to speak. "I was just walking down the hallway, looking for…" She paused and glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "Looking for you, and I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. Bumped into Malfoy and….I slapped him, then went in for another one." Remus smiled with mirth, but beckoned her to go on. "He….stopped me, and then I started to reach for my wand to hex him with the worst, when out of nowhere he just…punched me…" She trailed off, as she was still slightly confused where that came from.

The arm around her shoulders tightened, and Hermione was almost glad she had been hit. Almost. "I'll kill him for that, Hermione."

She laughed. "I think you already did. He's out cold, I imagine."

"He'd better be. Where does it hurt?"

"Right here's kind of sore," Hermione spoke softly, then gestured towards her lower stomach. She ginned inwardly as he moved his hand toward the spot and slowly began to massage it. She lay her head on his chest softly and a bit tense, as if checking if it was ok, then relaxed, deeply inhaling his cologne scent.

Her knotted muscles began to relax and Hermione closed her eyes, only for them to flutter open as Remus spoke. "So why were you looking for me in the first place?"

She had forgot all about dropping subtle hints! "Oh…I just wanted to ask you if you knew there was a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend." She smiled slyly up at him. There was no way he could miss that.

But he did. "Oh yes! You've been to Hogsmeade then? I love it there, especially Zonko's Joke Shop, and butterbeers at The Three Broomsticks and--what are you looking at me like that for?"

"Well…I was kind of…" everything came out in a rush. "I was kind of hoping that you'd, you know, ask me to go there, but of course if you don't want to, that's ok, it's fine with me, of course we could always just meet there as friends, not that I am hinting at anything, but if you didn't want to it wouldn't have to be a date, not that I was saying it was a date, but you--"

Her ramblings were cut off as Remus swiftly lifted her head up and pulled her in to him, locking her lips with his. She gasped slightly in surprise, and taking advantage of the parting of her mouth, Hermione felt Remus's tongue lock with her own. Both amused and surprised at her enjoyment, Hermione didn't think her first kiss could have been any better than this. Lightly pulling away from each other, Remus then kissed her forehead, nose and lips again softly and pulled away, cerulean orbs beaming down on her.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Mmm…I don't know. I _suppose_ I'll go to Hogsmeade with you, Remus," Hermione spoke with mock reluctance.

She grinned wickedly and snuggled her head into the nook in his neck. He wrapped both arms around her tightly and began massaging the spot harder, much to Hermione's contentment. She was enjoying relaxing comfortably in his arms when suddenly he stood up and gathered her in his arms. She let out a small gasp of delighted surprise as he carried her to the entrance. Setting her down gently, he kissed the top of her head and opened the door.

"Shall I escort you to the common room, My Lady?"

**********************************************

Harry kept his glasses on and sat up in bed in a desperate attempt to contemplate the events in Astronomy class he'd had a few weeks ago. He had done this every night since then, but couldn't come up with a plausible explanation. Trumpwort really was just another Trelawney, but Harry wondered if Trumpwort _could_ possibly be able to predict the future, if only to a small extent. Yet his vision was blurred and darkness was starting to close in on the corners of his eyes. If one thing still held true about this decade and his own was the workload they got because of their O.W.L.s. He found himself regretting his decision to burn all of his homework after fifth year. (A/N: A bit abrupt, was that not?)

Finally, Harry capitulated to the depths of sleep, despite his fruitless efforts to stay awake. 

__

~*~Dreamland, Dreamland, Sweet Little Girl and Boy Land, While you dw--(A/N: Ok, Ill shut up now.*starts humming the Dreamland song*)~*~

He was in a windowless, enclosed room, dying to get out. The darkness was maddening, engulfing his soul on the brink of panic. Then a bright, luminescent figure slowly took shape in the far corner of the chamber. The upper portions of the formerly shapeless object now took on an iridescent blue twinkle. Half moons shone in resplendent hues above a flowing ivory beard.

"Professor Dumbledore?" The voice was not his; it did not belong to him, yet it was he who was Harry that spoke.

"Harry, I was hoping you'd be here. I see you have still not mastered your Occlumency lessons. Truth be told, this is one time where I am grateful for that fact. I would not otherwise have been able to contact you." Dumbledore spoke without haste in slow, comforting tones, and Harry was inclined to feel relaxed as well. However, what should have been a joke caused no sparkle in the Headmaster's aqua eyes, and the urgency that was not in his voice could be seen in his oculus pools. Harry did not realize it at the time, but there was no recognition of the face before him either.

"What is it, Professor?"

"The Voldemort of our own time has acquired a time turner, the one that the Ministry kept for records. The time turner that was in our possession has shattered due to an unfortunate series of events, rendering it useless. Voldemort has traveled to the past, and you could be in danger. The Order has discussed this many times, yet we cannot fathom his plans, or if indeed, he does have plots to harm you, Lily or James. Therefore, we advise you to, at the end of your term at Hogwarts--"

He who was Harry interrupted him, yet he no longer had control of the essence that was his body. "Avada Kedavra!_" An unearthly pale, long fingered hand held the wand before him, and the familiarity of the wand was uncanny. Then again, brother wands work with the same efficiency for another who possesses its counterpart._

Dumbledore had disappeared just before the jet of green light hit him, and Harry regained control. He peered into the transparent mist that now surrounded him in place of the caliginous clouds of before. He heard a voice that was not his give a rasping, horrified gasp as a face that was not his stared back at him. Dumbledore had been looking into the eyes of Voldemort.

The scene abruptly changed to that of a calm setting outside a comfortable looking home. Red, snake-like eyes regarded the family of three inside. Harry recognized himself, although he was sixteen in the vision. Suddenly, Harry knew he was in a shared dream with Voldemort and vehemently attempted to shake himself out of it.

Raising his wand and silently opening the window, Harry's heart leapt to his throat as he saw what he was about to do.

"Mum! Dad! Look up! You must; it's urgent!"

But Harry's parents did not bat an eyelash.

'They are not your parents,' a taunting voice in his mind hissed. 'This is merely an alternate universe in which you are raised by the Potters.'

Harry was getting desperate now. Anything to stop himself from doing what he knew was going to happen. "Mum--Lily! James! He's coming! He'll kill you again, and I can't let that happen!" He was well aware that he was making no sense, but a strong sense of foreboding filled his head, rendering civilized speech useless.

The voice in his head swore loudly at the clatter of dishes dropping from his mother's hand. She looked up and let out a bloodcurdling scream as she saw him…

"Harry! Harry! Wake up!"

"Are you okay?"

~*~End of Dreamland~*~

"Huh?" Harry let out a shout as a humongous bucket of water hovered directly over his head.

"You guys? I'm awake, I really am, I swear! I--BLOODY HELL, THAT'S COLD!" The entire contents of the container were now all over him and his bed. The water was ice cold, and Harry was none too happy.

"Oh! Erm…sorry about that, Harry." Remus grinned sheepishly and lowered his wand that had been supporting the water.

"What was that all about, Harry?" Sirius asked. "Why were you yelling at Lily and James?"

"I--I was?" Slowly the nighttime vision came back to Harry. He had been warning his parents about something. But, there was something before that. He had been Voldemort, and Dumbledore was warning him…_It was all part of the dream!_ He realized. _Voldemort was just sending me that vision. I won't fall for that one again._ Not for Sirius, he wouldn't. He glanced at James, who was giving him an odd stare and actually looked properly shaken.

"Yes, you were. First you were shouting about your mum and dad, then all of a sudden it was Lily and James…" Peter trailed off, a quizzical expression on his face.

"If you don't mind me asking," James spoke for the first time in a rasping voice, "Who exactly _are_…or _were_, your parents?"

Harry drew in a deep breath, wondering how he could dodge the question without giving anything away. All eyes were on him, and everyone jumped as Ron gave a loud snore.

Harry took this opportunity as a distraction and laughed loudly. "Ron can sleep through anything, he can. Once, he thought that Siri--an escaped convict from Azkaban attacked him." He knew this was not entirely fair, as Sirius _had_ cut open the canopy to Ron's bed, but the Marauders did not have to know this.

"You're dodging my question, Harry." 

Harry squeezed his eyes shut tightly so that spots appeared on his closed lids and rubbed his temples. Making his final decision, he looked up and responded. "I--I can't tell you, James." Looking up at his father-to-be, Harry knew that James had heard the unspoken truth. He wished desperately that Prongs would forget the whole ordeal, but Harry knew better than that. The event would be engraved in his mind, and he'd always remember.

(A/N: Dun, dun, DUN! *evil creepy music plays in the background*)

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*boingboingboingboingboingboingboingboingboing*

ACK! I'm so sorry for you people who have read this before, but I really messed up in my original intentions. My writing got away with me, therefore I toned down a few things more to my liking…

There. You got your Remus and Hermione. Happy? Hehe…I thought I'd add them in since there's been so much Lily and James. But don't worry. They'll be back. Sorry about all the Author's Notes…I kinda get carried away sometimes…By the way, you have my beta reader Slinkey to thank for telling me to keep most of them out…there would've been a whole lot more for you to deal with mwahahahah! Ha.

Yay!

Au revoir!

*Sammy-Jo*


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